Before we met Xixi, neither of us really knew that much about Ballroom dancing. With our upcoming wedding, we had talked about getting lessons to make our day extra special. We wanted to keep it a secret and really wow our family and friends. Xixi made it easy, fun and definitely spectacular. During our first meeting with Xixi, we felt a warm connection, enjoyed her style / personality and decided to sign up for a full year worth of lessons. Our ambitions were bold (getting inspiration from the tango scene from The Wedding Planner) and Xixi really helped us every step of the way by adding her personal flair, style and experience to achieve our goals. We found her very easy to work with, accommodating to our continuously changing schedules (traveling for work / wedding planning!), patient, fun, and left us craving for more at the end of each lesson. Since we recorded each working session, it was easy to see the improvements weekly and after learning the basic steps to each dance (Rumba, Tango and Cha Cha) our performance came together rapidly. Not only did both our coordination improve, my husband's timing and posture noticeably changed and my flair and swagger were seriously enhanced. Xixi worked with us on both our strengths and weaknesses giving us the best gift of all - a flawless dance routine that amazed our guests and brought us a sense of accomplishment. We highly recommend working with Xixi at all levels, since we only scratched the surface of her talent, and with more time could see ourselves auditioning for Dancing with the Stars ;) We love you Xixi and thank you for all your help and support. Ramona and James read more

Xixi Dance Studios - Dance Studios Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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My husband and I decided on a rather difficult song to dance for our wedding ("So This is Love" by Mike Douglas) in August 2014. The beat wasn't consistent, and it was a difficult piece to put together by ourselves. We sought for help at Xixi Wedding Dance, and Malin came to our rescue! We had short amount of time to master the dance moves and were newbies to dancing, but she was able to turn our 1st dance from nothing to magic! The price was worth it, and our family and friends still talk about it till this day! read more

Xixi Dance Studios - Our 1st dance - Dance Studios Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Xixi was a pleasure to work with! My now husband actually has some dance experience but in hip hop and I had done some ballroom dancing many years ago. We were a bit worried that our dance may not be elegant or interesting as we did not have a lot of time and also we had to take out the hip-hop out of my now husband. Xixi made learning our dance a lot of fun and even taught us some exercises to help us understand concepts (ie how much pressure to give against your partner and keeping proper form). With our limited time, we opted to combine most of our lessons so each were 1.5 hours long. It sounds like a long time to be dancing but the lesson would go by so fast! Scheduling lessons were fairly easy as Xixi was pretty flexible. Xixi is a gifted teacher who is very patient and will teach based on how fast the couple picks up the steps. I know this because not only did she teach me and my husband for our first dance, but me and my father for our father-daughter dance. My father doesn't pick up new steps as fast as my husband so she would not advanced as fast with my father until she felt he was comfortable enough with the steps. We went into our first dance with a lot of confidence and our guests were thoroughly amazed and entertained. The price may first seem daunting but she was worth every penny and now I have a video of our great dance for years to remember :) read more

My husband and I were interested in learning how to ballroom dance for our first dance and discovered Xixi Dance on Yelp. After watching a couple of videos from their website and learning how easy going Xixi and Malin were, we immediately signed up for an introductory class. While my husband has taken an introductory ballroom class before, I had absolutely no experience in any sort of dancing. We're both super shy and wanted to feel comfortable and confident dancing in front of our family and friends. Luckily, Malin helped us achieve all of these things. :) At our introductory class, Malin talked with us for a few minutes to figure out exactly what our goals for first dance were and our skill level in order to determine exactly how to teach us to dance. She was so patient, kind and supportive. She taught us the basic steps of the waltz at our first lesson and then discussed about the different types of packages based upon our experience. We actually decided to go with the Gold Package, consisting of ten 55-minute dance lessons, to feel more comfortable dancing in public. Looking back, I'm so glad that we chose this route because we wouldn't have had enough time to learn everything we did in 5 lessons. My husband and I have absolutely no rhythm at all, and Malin patiently worked with us to get through this. She actually had to teach and remind us the beat of the song during our first couple of lessons. Lol. We had so much fun at each lesson. We always left each lesson laughing and making fun of each other on our way home. Near the end of our dance lessons, my husband kept saying how he was going to miss dance lessons because we always had a great time at each lesson. I highly recommend Malin from Xixi Dance! Not only is she a wonderful dancer, but she's a fabulous teacher. I can't tell you how patient and supportive she was throughout the entire process. Whenever we struggled through a certain choreography, Malin was always able to approach the situation from a different angle in order to help us get through each step of the way. My husband and I were pretty amazed by how she managed to teach both of us how to dance. She also gave us tons of advice about how to look, where to put our arms, where to look and what to do if we got off beat. Because of all of this, our wedding dance turned out amazing! I actually can't stop rewatching our first dance because she made us look awesome on our special day(despite a couple of mistakes we made)! Thanks again Malin! Also, the location of Xixi Dance Studios is perfect. There's tons of free parking around. Each dance room is humongous, surrounded by wall sized mirror and equipped with surround sound. FYI, Malin is super flexible! Because our wedding was after the holidays and my husband and I have crazy work schedules, we were able to schedule all of our lessons around and sometimes on holidays. She even helped edit/shorten our first dance song for us. She's so awesome! What are you waiting for? Come to XiXi Dance! read more

My husband and I have never been dancers. As our wedding date approached, we finally sat down and picked out a song for our first dance, but the reality was setting in -- what were we going to do for our first dance?? At that point, our only plan was to sway back and forth, middle-school dance style, which sounded so dreadfully boring. I, in particular, was nervous about tripping on my own two feet. Then, my husband found Xixi online. She agreed to work with us despite how crunched for time we were, as we didn't seek her out until just a month before our wedding date. We went to our introductory lesson and were impressed by how energetic, friendly, and talented of a teacher she was. That night we signed up for a 5 lesson package and scheduled each of our remaining lessons with her. During each of our lessons she reviewed what we learned last time and built upon them. She was able to help two beginner dancers choreograph an entire first dance and inspire confidence in our wedding night. Instead of fear and dread, we began to get excited about our first dance! Thanks to Xixi we were able to have such a memorable experience together, both before and during the wedding! read more

My wife and I are not even close to professionals, yet our first dance turned out to be a huge success! Malin really got us ready for the big day - just keep in mind that practice on the side helps a great deal! Before the wedding, we briefly mentioned to some friends that we had taken some dance lessons, and people simply laughed us off. Once out on the dance floor, everyone was impressed with our moves and we even set the tone for a busy dance floor! People were blown away by how smooth we looked - in fact most of the crowd thought that we actually choreographed the routine, when we actually just used the moves we learned to guide us without actual choreography. It felt great to perform so well as a team! read more

Xixi was an amazing dance instructor and just overall a great professional. My wife and I were looking for a local dance instructor and found her on yelp, she only had a few reviews so we were a bit unsure. We decided to meet her for a trial session and were immediately sold. We did a ten session package and she put a great dance together for us, it was perfect for the first dance at our wedding. She was always very professional and very flexible with scheduling sessions. We had to miss a session at the last minute and she did not take the session away even though it was against our agreement. I would highly recommend. read more

I had been taking swing dance classes with a group for about six weeks and hit my limit of understanding before I worked with Xixi. When we first met I asked if we could work on my rhythm and footwork because something was not clicking for me. She spent the first portion of the lesson having me show her what I knew and then then tailored the rest of the lesson towards my specific skill level. Xixi provided a personalized lesson that helped me to better understand the rhythm involved in each move. She broke down each step into its most basic components for me and created easy to understand sequences to build up my skill. I had a lot of fun and she was super helpful. read more

My fiance and I were interested in taking a few dance lessons for our upcoming wedding. We have little rhythm and were very nervous about doing a "first dance" in front of family and friends. We are SO happy we found Xixi dance studio-- our instructor Malin was amazing. She went through everything from start to finish in a way that made it clear and doable for Jim and I. Malin has great ability to clearly articulate exactly what we need to do, what we need to improve on, how we need to change the position of our shoulder, leg or whatever. She broke down dance moves in a way that made it easy to follow. We now look forward to dancing at our wedding and are planning to continue taking classes with Malin at Xixi since we had so much fun and surprised even ourselves! read more

My husband and I wanted to have a wedding dance that our guests would not forget and Malin helped turn our idea into reality. Neither of us had previous dance lessons and she broke the steps down so it was easier for us to learn (with practice). We also had an idea of a medley/mix that we wanted to add to the surprise factor. On our special day, all of our guests were amazed at our intricately choreographed routine. We've been able to use many of the moves we learned at recent weddings and also found the lessons to be a great 'date night' escape from wedding planning. We highly recommend Malin and Xixi, thanks again! Jamie & Brad Our wedding dance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9Sp4Xk_ajw read more

First Dance choreography is always intimidating to non-dancers, but Xixi could not have been more helpful or sweet to us. From the moment we met her, she put us at ease and gave us the confidence we needed to perform in front of our 150+ guests. We were so nervous that we won't be able to learn the dance with only one month to go, but Xixi's wonderful humor and dedication never failed us. I still can't believe we were able to learn the rumba in such a short amount of time. Xixi is also amazing with knowing which moves to give you, and helping you learn the correct steps without making you feel like a klutz. My now-husband and I loved our lessons with Xixi and felt so accomplished afterward. Not every couple has a choreographed dance on their wedding day but it was important to us to do this. We invested the time and effort and, at the end, our first dance was really the cherry on top of a perfectly unforgettable night. Thank you for this gift, Xixi. You're truly a SUPERSTAR! read more

My wife and I had a great experience--we can be quite uncoordinated and were relatively clueless when it comes to any sort of organized dance. The instruction we received here helped us feel comfortable and have fun with the first dance at our wedding--which was what our goal had been all along. Our instructor was Malin and she was easygoing and fun to work with. Your dance does not have to be choregraphed--you can simply learn several dance moves that can be incorporated into the first dance based on your preference. It helped us be more spontaneous and seamlessly move past any screw-ups as we navigated our way through the song. We chose to do the dance lesson package with 5 lessons over a month leading up to the wedding, which was a great value considering that you get 1-on-1 instruction for an hour with each lesson. The lessons allowed my wife and I to spend more quality time with each other leading up to the big day, and they were a great form of stress relief in the midst of the stress of all the other wedding planning. Malin was great at working at our level--despite being complete newbies, she always helped build our confidence. The studio space was great, and one thing of note is that you can also rent studio space for $10 an hour if you're looking for a space to practice. They are also flexible in terms of working with your schedule (nights, weekends, etc.). Had a fantastic experience and would highly recommend to others who are looking to make their first dance a low-stress experience. read more

My wife and I had a great time with Malin's lessons leading up to our wedding! Neither of us had any dance experience, and we went in with tempered expectations where we really just wanted to (1) do something better than the high school sway (2) learn general skills so we could dance to more than just our one song and (3) have a little fun along the way. Malin was great on all fronts! Easy to work with, helpful in her instructions, the right amount of pushing us to get better without being overly critical for newcomers, and flexible with catering the lessons to our desires. We got several compliments from our wedding guests, and were very happy to do more than just sway! read more

Before working with Xixi, my future wife and I were average at best - think junior high school dances, swaying back and forth to the music. The lessons we took were invaluable right from the start, as Xixi taught us proper technique, posture, and impressive (but not complicated) dance moves that worked perfectly with our song. The dance lessons, on one hand, made us both feel more confident in our dancing abilities. And on the other hand, each lesson was a mini date night for me and my wife, where we typically practiced together for 30 minutes prior to going to the lesson, had a blast working with Xixi who is both a wonderful and patient teacher, and then ended the night with a nice dinner. Definitely a night that highlighted our week. Xixi is an incredibly gifted teacher, where she is able to quickly ascertain the level of comfort and ability of her students, and cater her teaching style to complement them. Xixi also worked with our busy work schedules, to allow us to meet on varying weekly nights leading up to the wedding. Overall, we highly recommend Xixi to any couple preparing for their first dance or to brush up on a few new moves. Thank you. read more

Xixi was such a great teacher ! My fiance and I had dance lessons with her at her dance studio in Los Angeles and she is just so good at what she does! What I very much liked from the beginning is that, even during the trial session ('the Introductory Private Lesson'), we actually got to work and learn some moves ! I was expecting us to just chat and sit around but instead, she gave us a preview of what we'd learn. We bought the ten-lesson package ('the Gold program') since I thought that I wanted to be more comfortable on my wedding day (you can chose between 5, ten and 15 sessions). It was a little spendy to be honest (about $800) but it was worth every penny! All sessions were on a one-on-one basis, so that she would focus on each dancer's strength and weaknesses. She managed very well to make us both work, even though she was just showing a move to one person (you'll know what I mean when you have a class with her!) Also, she had a whole choregraphy figured out and she changed the song so that it would be easier to dance to- that's awesome customer service! (part of why I chose the Gold program is that we wouldn't have gotten a choregraphy with less sessions, and I wanted to make sure we knew what we were doing!) I really felt like my first dance would have been a disaster if I hadn't chosen Xixi, just swaying for 3 minutes, and I can't thank her enough . I highly recommend her, as she helped my husband and I be more confident , and that takes a lot of patience ! read more

Xixi is a totally amazing dance instructor and wonderful person. We found her through Yelp, to help my fiancee and I learn to dance for our wedding, and have enjoyed it more than we ever expected to! She makes learning the basics fun and easy, and she's a warm, fun, relaxing person to be around. She's flexible with scheduling and offers package pricing, which is very nice. Her studio is clean and comfortable, too. I can't recommend her highly enough! read more

I was looking for an elegant dance for my wedding, I read rave reviews for Xixi at Chicago Studio, I decided to try them out. Paul and I learned our choreographed dance from Malin, she was patient and gave us pointers and homework and when we did our dance we were so happy and it flowed so nicely. I can't wait to see the video...the pictures look incredible!! I'm not sure why it says closed, my wedding was December 31, 2015 and I had lessons right until December 29 with Malin. read more

Xixi was a great place to learn our wedding dance, and we felt welcome and supported from the start. We were able to give our instructor Malin our ideas about what we wanted for our dance, and she was able to use our vision to create a beautiful moment in our wedding. Xixi has a great location, a great space to rehearse in, and kind staff. We knew we wanted to learn a formal dance to an informal song from the 90s, and although this was somewhat of a strange request, Malin was able to come up with the perfect dance that worked with the music wonderfully and the dance was truly a highlight of our wedding day. We got so many compliments and felt so confident in our dance because of the support we had received throughout the rehearsal process. Even though we were both new to dance, Malin was patient and yet persistent with us which was perfect to get us to commit and learn the dance and yet not move past our capabilities as we learned. Overall would 100% recommend to a friend, and thank you Xixi and Malin for a perfect moment on our wedding day! read more

Thinking about the first dance is nerve wrecking since my now husband really had 2 left feet. So we thought that dance lessons will be essential. We are super happy we picked Xixi to work with! She's super sweet and a fantastic teacher. We went for the 10 x 1.5hr package, which may sound like a lot... But then you realize how many moves go into each dance! We actually worked 2 dances, a slower rumba and a quick paced swing into the reception, complete with dips and a crazy spin! Every guest loved it and of course so did we! I told Xixi this already, but we really really regret not hiring a videographer to capture these dances! read more

My fiancé (now husband) and I attended lessons in the months leading up to our wedding because we felt a bit shy about being the center of attention during our first dance. Our instructor was so patient and confident. We felt well cared for and she helped us visualize every part of the dance from the entrance to the dip and exit at the end. We learned some fancy looking turns that I was afraid would be too advanced for us as beginners, but we felt comfortable using them on the big day. The lessons are worth every penny for the peace of mind they provided for our big day plus the sessions provided a good opportunity/activity to practice patience and communication. I highly recommend Xixi Wedding Dance! read more

Xixi is a wonderful instructor! The other reviews are totally on point - she is outgoing, easy to work with, and really knows her stuff. We purchased 5 1-hour sessions to prepare for our first dance. Xixi starts with the basics to get you and your partner in sync, then slowly adds on so you never feel overwhelmed.... it's actually fun! Thanks Xixi. read more

My husband and I were largely hopeless (and terrified) when it came to the first dance. We didn't want to just stand there and sway, but we also knew that coordination wasn't exactly our strong suit (the typical, I want to lead, he can't find the beat combination). Xixi was pleasant and understanding from the beginning. She helped us find the beat and created a dance designed for our song that was simple enough that we could pull it off and flexible enough that we could do what felt right. Xixi is a competetive ballroom dancer with an apparent soft spot for those of us who have no idea what quick-quick-slow means. Regardless of your level, she will help craft your perfect first dance. For us, that involved a lot of whooping from our friends and family who couldn't believe it when we actually pulled of that first twirl. read more

Xixi is an INCREDIBLE teacher. She has a natural ability of explaining the steps in a way that makes it quick and easy to learn. She is also very adept at catching errors and fixing them in a way that is very positive and encouraging. Her energy is so radiant and I absolutely LOVE that she gets excited when she sees me making progress. I can tell that she is very invested in my success, growth and confidence in dancing. She cares very much, and is also incredibly skilled and talented. She is also very in tune with styling and movements that allow me to dance in a more feminine way, which I love. I highly recommend her and her classes. You will feel very well taken care of! read more

Xixi was absolutely fabulous! When my fiance (at the time) and I first started taking dance lessons with Xixi my husband had never danced before and didn't even know how to hear a beat in songs. Xixi was very patient and was successfully able to teach us a choreographed 3 minute dance for our wedding. It took us about four months but by the time we were done my husband and I were confidently able to walk out on the dance floor and complete our first dance. Our guests enjoyed it so much that they were on their feet clapping and singing while we were dancing and afterwards we received many compliments because it was choreographed so well. Xixi also provided guidance when selecting our song to help us find one that would be a good fit and would be fun to dance to. I would highly recommend any bride that wants to have a unique first dance takes lessons from Chicago Wedding Dance (Xixi). You will not regret it! read more

I loved my experience here! Our teacher, Malin, was patient, and choreographed a routine for me and my dad that we could feel confident in, considering neither of us are dancers! My wedding day was extra special that I got to share this moment on the dance floor with my dad and impress our guests! read more

I was so lucky to choose Xixi Dance Studio to learn our wedding dance. Our first dance turned to to be perfect on the wedding day and all of our friends and family members were really enjoying it. My wife and I had no any experience in Ballroom dance before the wedding. My wife was not living in Chicago Area, which made the dance learning even more challenging for us. My dance instructor was Malin. She is very nice, patient and experienced. She helped us design the whole learning plan, so my wife and I could have enough time to practice together when she came to visit me. She took the video when I was practicing with her, which allowed us to practice after class easily. During those 2 months, we gradually built our confidence, rhythm, and dance skills as the course went on. Finally, she designed the choreography for the whole dancing based our own style and preference, which made our wedding such a perfect and unforgettable one. We really enjoyed the dance learning experience at Xixi Dance Studio. I highly recommend to everyone at different levels. Thank you Malin and thank you Xixi Dance Studio! Yan and Tishun read more

Xixi was a wonderful teacher. My wife and I are not very graceful, but she managed to help us look like we knew what we were doing. Xixi was very flexible with us and fit us into her busy schedule. We would absolutely go to Xixi for future dance lessons. read more

Xixi was very easy to work with and really flexible with scheduling. She was able to teach us a basic dance for our wedding in 6 sessions over only one month. It was challenging because our song was fast but she kept with us til we got it! read more

This review is long overdue. But married life keeps you busy and overlook things. Came upon Xixi Dance Studios through online reviews and seems very good. The schedule time is very accommodating so we decided to give it a try. The first overview lesson was with Malin. She went over the basics dance genre, songs we were considering for our first dance that we brought along to play, and what type of dance do we want our first dance to be. We wanted 2 songs playing back to back for our first dance with practically 0 experience. Malin was very encouraging and flexible with her schedule. She pushed us in a good way to learn the dance in tune with our choice of music. We worked hard together and had fun at the same time. We highly recommend Malin. read more

Xixi was an amazing instructor! My then fiancé and I went to her so so she could help us learn to dance for our first dance. She made us feel so comfortable and relaxed and was patient with the both of us. We looked forward to each lesson and had tons of fun. Xixi choreographed our entire wedding dance with our music for our wedding! Our guests loved it and we can't thank her enough! read more

We were looking for dance lessons for our wedding so that our first dance together would be something memorable and fun. Neither of us had any ballroom dance experience and weren't sure what to expect. We started off with the introductory lesson with Malin at Xixi dance, and were so impressed that we immediately bought a full package. It was probably the best decision we made with all of our wedding planning! We enjoyed our lessons so much. Malin was very patient and professional. She would critique us in an encouraging way to make the lesson fun and productive. She is also very highly skilled at what she does (both dancing and teaching). We were worried that we wouldn't have time to fit in our lessons, but scheduling was simple and there were always time slots in the evenings and on weekends that could accommodate both of our busy schedules. As most people know, the time before a wedding can be pretty hectic with all of the planning. The wedding lessons were something my wife and I looked forward to each time. They were fun, instructive, and served to bring us closer together. Thank you Malin for the dance lessons! Our wedding dance looked great, and we had so much fun throughout the process. We are thinking about signing up for more lessons in the future just to have fun and continue to learn how to dance together. read more

Xixi is an amazing dance teacher! She choreographed our first dance for our wedding and taught the routine to us over a 10 week period of time. Xixi has a great personality, she's patient and makes all of her lessons fun! We had never taken dance lessons before and neither of us had much in the way of natural talent. As a result of taking lessons from Xixi, we danced our first wedding dance with confidence, and had a blast doing it! Sign up with Xixi to prepare for your big day! You'll be so happy you did! read more

For two people with four left feet, the first dance at our wedding was quite daunting. We absolutely wanted to put some effort into it, and do much more than just cling to each other and sway to the music. But we also wanted to feel calm and confident, and for our first dance to really reflect our chosen song and how we feel about each other. On all of these counts, Xixi absolutely delivered - she took our skill level into account and, with lots of laughter and fun over the course of 15 lessons in five months, helped us perform an enjoyable, natural, smooth dance that looked great and appeared far more complex than it really was. Throughout it all, Xixi also became a genuine friend - she' s a talented, patient, understanding teacher who will help make your first dance truly memorable. We contacted Xixi after she was featured on the blog of our wedding coordinator, Kelly Cavanaugh of Clementine Custom Events. We weren't quite sure what to expect - we were hoping we could find someone who would be able to work with our lack of skills and choreograph a simple but elegant dance that looked natural (rather than a routine from "Dancing With the Stars"). It was obvious from our first meeting that we were in good hands - Xixi built our skills slowly and gave the learning process time to work, with the progression from week to week entirely natural. We would regularly stop and think about what we had just done, only to realize it was precisely the thing we swore we'd never be able to do just a couple of weeks earlier! The end result was fantastic - with a couple of weeks still to go before the wedding, we were already practicing our full dance routine with Xixi and ironing out small issues to make it the best it could be. On the big day, it was just that - and certainly worth the investment of time and money. Thanks Xixi! read more

For my wedding, it was my dream to surprise our guests with a choreographed first dance, and somehow my now-husband agreed to it. My husband and I have no dancing background and are both pretty shy people, so this was a huge undertaking. Luckily we found XiXi Dance Studio who allowed my wedding dance dream to come true! We took 15 lessons over the course of 3 months leading up to our wedding with Malin, the most patient and talented dance instructor I can ever imagine. She choreographed not just one but two dances for us (the waltz and the hustle) to some unconventional song requests (Once Upon a Dream and Shut Up & Dance), and it was the biggest hit at our wedding! We didn't tell any guests about our first dance plans which caused me to be extremely nervous the entire day, but thanks to Malin's excellent instruction, it went perfectly. We got married 4 months ago now, and our friends and family still bring up our first dance! I would highly recommend Xixi Dance Studio to anyone looking for dance lessons for any reason, it is worth every penny! read more

When my (now) wife and I were preparing for our wedding, we realized we really needed to work on our dancing, since basically we had almost no skill whatsoever. I mean, I took box step lessons once when I was ten or something, but other than that my dancing technique basically consisted of randomly moving around and trying not to look too gay. Xixi was methodical, taking the first few sets of lessons to simply lay the foundation for proper posture and stepping. We were planning to have our wedding dance to the tune of "The Blue Danube," a three-step Waltz, and Xixi worked with us to establish a basic repertoire of simple Waltz patterns and transitions that we could mix around and improvise with. She was very efficient in using a limited number of lessons to give us all that was necessary and including some set beginning and ending pieces. She was also fun to work with, and to my surprise for a guy who is not a dancer, I honestly found myself looking forward to the dance lesson at the end of a long day of work! I think we really surprised most of our friends and family at the wedding banquet, most of whom had no idea that we could dance at all! Great teacher! read more

My fiance and I wanted to take a few simple dance classes before our wedding just to make sure we weren't tripping all over each other at our wedding. We are not professional dancers, to say the least. I was referred to Chicago Wedding Dance by a friend who had a good experience there (and I went to her wedding and saw the benefit of the lessons in action!) so I decided to try them. We took a few private lessons with Beth, who was wonderful! She could tell we were, ahem, beginners and made the lesson simple enough for non-dancers to understand. We started at the very beginning, where she verified the fact that we could at least keep a beat, and then progressed over the course of several lessons. We learned basic steps, how to move around the room, how to stand correctly (didn't even realize we were doing that wrong), and a few fun surprise moves that make the time go by and actually makes it really fun to dance! Even though my fiance would never admit it, I think he is really excited about them too. Beth also walked us through the specific rhythm of the song we had chosen--it's really slow and actually a little tough to dance to--which was really helpful, otherwise we might have just given up on it. I am a lot less nervous about getting up in front of everyone at our wedding now, and I'm actually looking forward to our first dance! I'd highly recommend them! read more

My fiancé and I took 5 lessons (after the intro) with Malin and pulled off a very successful first dance! Neither of us had any formal dance experience and I am extremely self-conscious on the dance floor. Malin was very patient with us and taught us elements we could use to craft into a pretty impressive (though not overly choreographed) first dance. Our guests were quite impressed and even my grandmother (who detests the way "kids dance today") approved! Malin worked with us to tailor the moves to our (low) abilities and her informal/friendly demeanor made the experience fun (she was laughing right along with us). Scheduling lessons and payment were both easy. I'd highly recommend investing in first dance lessons with Xixi and Malin. read more

I took wedding dance lessons with Malin and had a great experience. I found Xixi's studio by searching online and it was very easy to set up appointments through her. The studio has large, personal rooms, so my husband and I felt very comfortable practicing together. Malin is an excellent instructor and will work with you to help you perfect your moves. In fact, I enjoyed my lessons with my husband so much that I scheduled lessons with my father as well. I am glad I took lessons here as I felt much more prepared for my first dance! read more

We began lessons with XiXi to prepare for our son's wedding. Because of his resistance, my husband and I had never danced together during all the years of our marriage. XiXi was able to choose steps that we could master in a short time; we looked forward to our sessions with her as a chance to build our confidence and prepare for our special occasion. She gave us such support and confidence that we truly enjoyed dancing at the wedding. Since then, we have joined the dancing at several other events, something we would never have done without Xixi's guidance and encouragement. She has enriched our lives; my husband and I will welcome and continue to enjoy future dance opportunities. We can't recommend her too highly! read more

We were getting married and in the midst of all the last minute details we decided to work with Xixi on our wedding dance. Neither my husband nor I have ever had a ballroom dance lesson. Working with Xixi was easy. She helped us set a dance lesson schedule. During our first lesson, she taught us how to get in sync with each other and taught us the basic moves. What amazes me about Xixi is that she was very in tuned with how each of us learns, and really professional in teaching complex movements to beginning dancers. She was always very positive in her teaching style and really met us where we were at as newbies. One of the biggest highlights was how much fun the lessons were. My husband and I learned so much from each other as a couple in working together, in learning how to communicate through movement and physical cues. We really had to learn to flow together. What we received was not only a fun experience but we provided an entertaining performance at our wedding. We felt confident in our dance and it was such a beautiful experience to be applauded by our friends and family. Thank you Xixi! read more